This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE DIGITAL IMAGING SYSTEMS FOR MESOSCALE IVEM APPLICATIONS. This effort focuses on technology, research, and development to improve technologies for digital imaging as a replacement for film and as an enabling technology for high-throughput, wide-field mesoscale data acquisition and computer-integrated microscopy. Specifically, we are refining use of a 8k x 8k ultra-wide-field lens-coupled CCD camera system for production use for microscopy. Similarly, we are undertaking engineering activities to integrate emerging DDD prototypes for routine data acquisition on our resource IVEMs. As a driver for the continued development and refinement of these systems, we cultivate mesoscale microscopy applications that exploit the performance characteristics of these devices and apply them to collaborative research. These goals are organized into the following specific aims: first, to accommodate the need for ultra-wide-field high-throughput image acquisition, we will complete the integration and commissioning of the NCMIR 8k x 8k lens-coupled CCD camera system. Second, to more accurately record information about biological specimens, we will refine technologies to directly record images using radiation-hardened CMOS cameras invented at NCMIR and field these DDDs on key resource platforms.